Rollo at Play eBook

“Then,” said his mother, “you must
first go and read a quarter of an hour.”

Rollo was sadly disappointed, and also a little displeased.
He turned away, hung down his head, and began to cry.
It is not strange that he was disappointed, but it
was very wrong for him to feel displeased, and begin
to cry.

“Come here, my son,” said his mother.

Rollo came to his mother, and she said to him kindly,

“You have done wrong now twice this morning;
you have neglected your duty of reading, and now you
are out of humor with me because I require you to
attend to it. Now it is my duty not to
yield to such feelings as you have now, but to punish
them. So I must say that, instead of a quarter
of an hour, you must wait half an hour, before
you go out with Jonas.”

Rollo stood silent a minute,—­he perceived
that he had done wrong, and was sorry. He did
not know how he could find Jonas in the woods, but
he did not say any thing about that then. He
only asked his mother what he must do for the half
hour. She said he must read a quarter of an hour,
and the rest of the time he might do as he pleased.

So Rollo took his book, and went out and sat down
upon the platform, and began to read aloud. When
he had finished one page, which usually took a quarter
of an hour, he went in to ask his mother what time
it was. She looked at the clock, and told him
he had been reading seventeen minutes.

“Is seventeen minutes more than a quarter of
an hour, or not so much?” asked Rollo.

“It is more;—­fifteen minutes
is a quarter of an hour. Now you may do what
you please till the other quarter has elapsed.”

Rollo thought he would go and read more. It is
true he was tired; but he was sorry he had done wrong,
and he thought that if he read more than he was obliged
to, his mother would see that he was penitent,
and that he acquiesced in his punishment.

So he went on reading, and the rest of the half hour
passed away very quickly. In fact, his mother
came out before he got up from his reading, to tell
him it was time for him to go. She said she was
very glad he had submitted pleasantly to his punishment,
and she gave him something wrapped up in a paper.

“Keep this till you get a little tired of play,
down there, and then sit down on a log and open it.”

Rollo wondered what it was. He took it gladly,
and began to go. But in a minute he turned round
and said,

“But how shall I find Jonas?”

“What is he doing?” said his mother.

“He said he was going to clear up some land.”

“Then you will hear his axe. Go down to
the edge of the woods and listen, and when you hear
him, call him. But you must not go into the woods
unless you hear him.”

BRIDGE BUILDING

Rollo went on, down the green lane, till he came to
the turn-stile, and then went through into the field.
He then followed a winding path until he came to the
edge of the trees, and there stopped to listen.